Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday as she travels the country seeking backing for changes to Myanmar's constitution, which currently prevents her from becoming president.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate met with Abbott and later spoke to journalists about her fight for fair elections.
"We are just starting out on the road to democracy. We are not there yet, as some people seem to assume," she said. "Without amendments to the constitution, we can never become a truly democratic society."
The military regime that governed until 2011 shut Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party out of politics, but last year she and several dozen party members won parliamentary seats.
A clause in the army-dictated constitution disqualifies her from becoming president. The 68-year-old is now seeking the constitutional changes that would allow her to run.
"Certainly we think that there should be free and fair elections in Burma and they should be conducted on the proverbial level playing field," Abbott said.
Suu Kyi is in Australia on a five-day trip to Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. On Wednesday, she received two honorary doctorate degrees during a ceremony in her honor at Sydney's Opera House.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
